“Kenya is not an American colony!”
That was the mantra echoing via Nairobi and different Kenyan cities final week as livid protesters vented their anger at plans for a US-funded isolation ward for Americans uncovered to Ebola overseas.
The controversial proposal has sparked fears of Ebola getting into a nation that has by no means recorded a single case of the often-fatal illness. The nearest outbreaks are unfolding greater than 1,500 miles away in jap Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the place Ebola was first detected, and neighboring Uganda.
Critics argue the facility would expose Kenya to dangers the United States wouldn’t settle for by itself soil. Despite a courtroom order halting development of the ward pending a authorized problem, Kenya’s authorities — which just lately signed a $1.6 billion well being take care of the US — has continued to again the undertaking, fueling a public backlash.
President William Ruto defended the decision, saying it will be “very inhuman” for Kenya to reject a US-funded facility after years of receiving American support.
However, Ruto’s former deputy, Rigathi Gachagua, who was impeached in 2024, instructed NCS the plan revealed double requirements on the a part of the US and ought to be resisted.
“We find it unpalatable that if Americans are not willing to take care of their own patients in their own country because it’s risky to the rest of the population, the Americans will decide that that can be done in Kenya,” stated Gachagua. “We find it unfair, we find it a double standard, and we are totally opposed to it.”
He added that the deal was “totally insensitive” and put US pursuits above Kenyan considerations.
The controversy displays a wider development throughout Africa, the place nations are more and more pushing again towards what critics describe as Washington’s transactional strategy underneath President Donald Trump and deals seen as favoring US pursuits.
Much of that pushback stems from adjustments in Washington’s strategy to Africa.
On his return to workplace final yr, Trump paused virtually all overseas support and scrapped 1000’s of support contracts. The transfer marked the start of the dismantlement of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), chopping important well being and humanitarian funding worldwide — together with in Africa, one of many largest recipients of US help.
For many years, US funding supported the struggle towards HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis throughout the continent. Now, these applications are being changed by Trump’s “America First Global Health Strategy,” which prioritizes direct deals with particular person nations. Washington says the objective is to cut back support dependence whereas advancing US interests.
But as support provides manner to dealmaking, questions are growing about what African nations are anticipated to supply in return.
The US has signed new well being agreements with at least 16 African countries, however some have stalled due to disagreements over their phrases.
Last month, Zambia’s overseas minister, Mulambo Haimbe, said the nation was reluctant to settle for a proposed $2 billion well being package deal as a result of it required “preferential treatment of US companies over Zambia’s critical minerals” in addition to “sharing of data in violation of our citizens’ right to privacy.”
Zambia is a leading copper producer, a key materials used in renewable power, electrical automobiles, and energy grids.
Haimbe’s feedback adopted criticism from outgoing US ambassador Michael Gonzales, who accused Zambian leaders of counting on US-funded well being care whereas not investing sufficient themselves.
Gonzales denied that Washington was linking healthcare help to entry to important minerals. However, he additionally stated that “going forward, the benefits of our relationship must be mutual.”
Zambia just isn’t alone. Similar considerations have emerged elsewhere on the continent.
Zimbabwe and Ghana have additionally objected to proposed multimillion-dollar agreements that embody well being data-sharing necessities.
“We need partnerships without strings attached,” Ghanaian Health Minister Kwabena Mintah Akandoh told reporters final month.
In Zimbabwe, authorities spokesperson Nick Mangwana stated the nation “was being asked to share biological resources and data long-term, with no guarantee of access to resulting vaccines or treatments” or reciprocity from Washington.
“Development aid should empower nations, not create dependencies or serve as a vehicle for strategic extraction,” Mangwana wrote in a blogpost in February.
Peace deals and mineral pursuits
Those considerations prolong past well being partnerships and into the mining and demanding minerals sector.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), critics query whether or not Washington’s diplomatic efforts to finish many years of battle in the mineral-rich east are pushed by real safety considerations. The area is dwelling to among the world’s largest coltan deposits, used in smartphones and different electronics.
Victor Tesongo, a social rights activist and senior government in the AFC insurgent coalition battling Congolese forces, instructed NCS that the US can’t be seen as impartial whereas additionally seeking access to the DRC’s strategic resources.
Such considerations grew after Trump hosted DRC President Félix Tshisekedi and Rwandan President Paul Kagame in Washington in December to sign a peace deal geared toward ending the battle.
Tesongo dismissed the pact as a useful resource seize.
“The Trump plan has nothing to do with security or the restoration of peace; rather, it is about plundering Congolese resources,” he alleged. “The proof is that after the signing in the US, the situation has not changed; the fighting continues.”
The US maintains its involvement is geared toward promoting regional security.
Taken collectively, the disputes in Kenya, Zambia, Ghana, Zimbabwe, and the DRC recommend a broader shift in how African nations have interaction exterior companions.
According to Solomon Dersso, founding director of the pan-African coverage assume tank Amani Africa, the US pursuit of its personal strategic pursuits is nothing new. The distinction, he stated, is that it’s now taking place “more overtly and without pretence.”
For Chitimbwa Chifunda, Zambia director for Oxfam in Southern Africa, the shift underscores the necessity for African nations to turn into much less depending on overseas support.
“The era of waiting for aid is fast slipping away,” she stated, including that latest negotiations present African governments are more and more prepared to push again and defend their pursuits.
Simon Mulongo, a former African Union particular envoy to Somalia and the Sahel, sees the identical development and argues the controversy is now not about whether or not Africa ought to accomplice with international powers however on what phrases.
“African states are no longer willing to sign away strategic assets quietly under the language of aid, partnership or emergency support,” he instructed NCS, including that “health cooperation should not become a back door to citizen data extraction,” and safety partnerships “should not become a route to mineral capture.”
“This is not isolationism. It is a demand for fair exchange.”